Extravagance & Drugs

This presidential campaign is absolutely sickening. This month Barack Obama raised $66 million, while last month John McCain rose $47 million. At the end of the day, neither candidate, despite his assertions to the otherwise, is going to change Washington, America or alter the course of history. They are not the first presidential candidates to claim they will clean up the dirt that permeates the pristine halls of America's capital. It's true that the public has a short memory. But are they really that stupid to believe that any person can fundamentally change institutions as large as those in America, to change the way 300 million people think?

This election, if it shows us nothing, proves that the status quo will remain the same no matter who is elected. If these candidates really wanted to change the country, they would donate their campaign money to Darfur, the environment or any other array of problems that plague our world today. And if people actually wanted change, they would direct their earnings in places other than the pockets of political teams.

Journalists are willing accomplices because these campaigns pay the media's bills.

In an unrelated topic, new studies have shown the drugs given to children with schizophrenia have serious side effects, like extreme weight gain. So not only are kids suffering from serious mental problems that doctors try to heal with some pills, but then they become fat– decreasing their self-esteem, health and increasing insults from their peers.

What a wonderful organization the Food and Drug Administration is. It won't approve vitamins, but it keeps allowing dangerous drugs on the market. Shouldn't these studies be done prior to releasing the drug on the market? The study also found that older drugs aimed to relieve symptoms of similar problems actually had less side effects. So the drug companies are investing in research and releasing drugs that are more dangerous than their predecessors. I'm not fooled. The drug companies are intrinsically evil.

Also, in regards to my previous post about politicians spinning the media, a former professor of mine wrote a note about a technique called bridging that politicians use where they answer a question by bridging it to some key message they are trying to convey. The trick for journalists is to anticipate the technique and prepare a pointed follow-up question. Even more importantly, journalists should know their subject inside and out before an interview.

All the more reason for teddy bears like Charlie Gibson and sweethearts like Katie Couric to move back to the morning shows to interview movie stars.